Wednesday, 26 August 2015

My last blog was about making these personalised wedding labels. They have had their first firing and I have tried one out on one of the jars I have been collecting.

These are the tags after the inicial firing, they have kept the curved shape during the firing quite well, so they should fit around the jars very nicely.

At the moment they don't have anything to make the lettering stand out, so they will go back in the kiln after I have put some iron oxide onto them and given them a wash with clear glaze.

This is how I would like them to look, the lettering is a little darker on this one as Ive filled it with a fine liner to see how it would look, Ive tied them with garden string through the side holes to attach them onto the jar.So easy

Monday, 24 August 2015

These are initial stamped clay labels that will be used to dress up some flower vases and jars on a sweety bar at my wedding next year. They have been made flat and stamped with the first letter of our names and later formed around a tube to create a curved shape to them so that they sit around the jars. I plan to wrap some burlap or lace around the jars aswell so I am looking forward to seeing how these turn out.

Here is how they looked just after I had cut them all out them and personalised them.

Friday, 12 June 2015

Always lots of weddings being prepared at the beginning part of the year, it begins to tail off now and I won't do so many for a while.Here is my latest commission, instead on the central hole on the heart the customer wanted a hole on the side so that they could be tied neatly onto napkins on the wedding tables.Im really pleased with these, very simple and a chic idea to tie them onto the napkins so that the guest names can be written on them.120 just got sent out to there new recipient!

Sunday, 19 April 2015

Monday, 6 April 2015

I never make pots.But recently I got the urge to, I hand built it just layering sections of clay, then graduated the pot to create the funnel neck, retrieved from a single firing with a lovely matt white glaze and some cobalt oxide painted flecked across the top.I don't make pots because Im too critical about them when they are finished so I usually throw them away.I like this one so it can stay, perfect it is not, flawed, very, but it is perfect for these catkins I think

Saturday, 4 April 2015

School project for the year 8's, looking at Hunderwasser paintings and creating a clay glazed tile in the style of. The tile has images of the seaside town where they live, as they needed to incorporate things from their environment into the tile, In this example I made for them I have included the wind turbines, fairground roof shapes, part of a traditional windmill, the sea, a seagull and part of a recycling sign. The sides were built up so that glass could be melted into the recesses.The Year 8's loved this project!!

Thursday, 26 February 2015

This time of year its horrible to work in my workshop, its cold and damp, altogether miserable, so I tend to bring clay inside and find somewhere nice to work, its warmer the clays drying as I work and I find Im more productive working this way until the warmer sunnier days arrive.Ive had a few commissions and rebuilding stock for my shops, but I thought I would set aside some time to use a clay body I usually only use for small flatter pieces, it fires bright white like porcelain but it has some weight to it as it is stoneware, to make myself a large vase and some little ceramic spoons. This is where I set up these days.

Some of my salt and pepper pots waiting to be packaged and sent out to their new homes

Testament to the vile weather outside, my outdoor cat has even found herself somewhere cosy and dry to curl up

Saturday, 21 February 2015

Ive just added some new designs to my plant marker range, they went live on the Not on the High Street site this afternoon. I will continue the older designs for a while yet as they are still very popular and Im always making them along with my other products. Here they are:

Monday, 12 January 2015

The excesses of Christmas are now over and its been a slow start getting back into the swing of making things again.
I would like to make some changes with my work this year, and I hope to be moving in a different direction with some new ideas and perhaps a less commercialised route.
In the meantime though I am pulled back into replenishing a near empty Not on the High street shop, and some small commissions.

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MUD HANDS........A visual diary of what I make.

Print, texture and clay formations, practical Ideas and functional art that can be used for both purpose and style.
Here is where i document my successes and failings as both enable me to push on and are equally important in the making process.

Valentine Clays share friendly and knowledgable advice about their clays & raw materials from the smallest to the largest projects and offer a vast selection of clay bodies and will invariably send a few tester clays for you to try. Click to visit.